afi ih ersin e «En u ca ti on a l
m
on ogra phs
E DI TE D B' HE NR' SUZZALLO
O F E DU C A T I O N
O F T HE P HI L O S O P H
P RO F E S S O
T E A C HE RS C O LLE G E , C O LU MB I A U N I 'E RS I T'
Y
R
—
SE LF C U LTI 'A TI O N
I N E N G LI SH
G E ORG E
HE RBE RT PALME R
ALFO RD P R OF ES SO R OF PH I LOS O PH'
HA R'A RD UN I 'E RS I T'
HOUG HTON
S
BO TON, NE
«t
MI FFLI N
W 'OR'
COMPAN'
AND
he min ersi in e p re s', (t a m b t i bg c
C OP
COP
Y R HT
IG
YR HT
IG
,
, 1
1 908 ,
909,
B'
A LL
gun
B' G
R
H
OU G
T
I GH S
T
R E HE R E R A LME R
H TON M L N OM A N'
EO
G
I FF
RE
T P
B
I
C
S E R 'ED
fi gh t. 1897 . b y h om a s ' Gro w l' Co m pa n y
.
P
I N TRO DU C TI O N
as a s choo l s u bj e c t grows more impor
tant in th e education o f o ur youth Its pla c e in
o u r schoo l s b e in s to b e as l arge as its position
g
in every d a y life An d gradually the aims pur
sued by the school in English teaching conform
to those practical and artistic purposes which are
us u ally associated with o u r spoken and written
l angu age
E NG LI S H
.
-
.
.
E d u c a ti o n
a
l
f
re
orm
a n
d E
'
ng
lzs fz s tu dy
The teaching o f English reflects the import a nt
movements f or the reform o f o u r schools There
is indeed no b etter inde x o f o u r substantial
achievements in modern educational a ff airs than
th ose modifications in English instruction which
are now in progress The passing o f a technical
and barren study o f grammatical and rhetorica l
form s is part of the genera l tendency toward the
subordination o f f or m al s ubj ects Th e in t r o du c
.
,
,
.
.
111
I N T RO DU CT I ON
tion of c l assic material in reading b ooks and the
study o f unmarred literary who les mark the de
t e rm i n e d e ff ort to enrich the school curriculum
with content significan t alike to the child and to
the society in which he lives Th e increased em
phasis o n English composition as an instrument
f or the comm u nication or expression o f the
chil d s thought is a response to the same ideals
o f educational method which are giving man u al
training and the other expressive art s a respect
able position in th e school curriculum
.
’
.
Cka n g o s i n tko sp i r i t
f
o
E
n
g li s n i n s tr u c ti o n
The influence o f educational reform on Eng
l ish instru ction e xtends beyond specific changes
in the subj ect matter and methods used in
sch ools It causes wide sweeping modifications
in the who l e spirit o f o u r English teaching
S lowly but certainly it dawns o n us that a mere
study o f the formalities o f language does not i n
sure a n enj oyment o f lite r atu r e or a command o f
speech In place o f th e o ld and barren insistence
upon a half s c ie n t ifi c an alysis o f language which
l eaves us conscious on l y o f the dissected part s
-
.
.
.
-
1v
I N T RO D U C TI O N
of lang u age modern teaching sets up two new
maj or purposes for Engl ish study — to develop
an appreciation o f the best English literature
and to train the power o f e ff ective expression
through language
,
,
,
.
Tb e
a
’
zc u l ty o
ifl
’
f
tra
i n i n g li n g
u is t i c
p
o we r
It is the attainment o f this latter end the i m
proved use o f English as an instru ment of expres
sion that presents the l argest diffi culties to the
teacher Most of th e c u rrent p ractices o f the
schoo l have been developed mainly with re f er
ence to giving th e child the facts o f o ur organized
know l edge U ntil recently its methods have not
been concerned with training him in the applica
tion o r expression of the thoughts thus attained
Hence the weakness o f th e school in teaching
children to speak and write good English is con
s p ic u o u s
and hen ce th e need to improve the
conditions th a t underlie the acquirement o f clear
and forceful expression and to deve l op new
modes of transmitting the tech ni que of English
speech and writing
,
,
.
,
.
.
,
.
I N T RO DUCTI ON
Co n di t i o n
s
na
ve
be e n
f
un
a vo r a
ble
The schools o f to day find it diffi cu l t to under
take the training of literary power because u n
favorable conditions persist f rom the schools o f
a century ago Time was when any deliberate
effort to teach children to write in school would
have l argely failed because there was n o clear
recognition o f the fact that there can be no cul
t iva t i o n o f the power to use English without an
a dequate development o f enriched thought to be
expressed Th at older school which was m ainly
concerned with the formal subj ects the three
R s grammar rhetoric and the like —gave chil
dren little that could b e the b asis o f real written
com p osition True expression is always sel f ex
pression and for se l f e xpression more is required
than the committing to memory o f ideas The
schools of that other day in so far as they con
tributed to the knowledge o f ch ildren im p osed it
upon them authoritatively without any special
consideration of their interests o r needs What
the school asked children to express they had
no desire to e xpress and what they might choose
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’
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,
vi
I N T RO DUCT I ON
to say the school regarded as trivia l Hence o u r
poverty o f literary power in the schools has de
scended to us along with dull courses o f study
and dogmatic methods o f teaching
,
.
.
Co n di t i o n s g r o w
m o re
fa
vo r a
ole
The newer movements in education tend to
establish condition s which are a striking contrast
to those of the past The course o f study has
been enriched by the addition o f n ew subj ect s
and by the vitalization o f Old studies F ir s t hand
contact with the natura l world and with human
l ife is g uaranteed as never before M u ch o f the
acqu isition o f knowledge is closel y connected
with active ways o f learning Above a ll there is
a sympathy for children which recognizes that
tru e education m u st start with the vital impulses
o f child life
U nder such an order children have
something to say and they want to say it And
teachers are willing to listen o r read as the case
may be knowing that the f orces which m ake for
l ite r ary power are there ready to be restrained
o r refined as the canons o f good taste and c l ear
expression d emand
.
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,
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,
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,
,
,
.
I N T RO DUC T I ON
Me t/l a ds of
i n ip r o v i n g li te ra ry p o we r
N ow that we have o u r child r en speaking and
writing we need to kn ow how we can improve
those crude talents which instinct and a favor
able school life permit Th e problem is a new
o n e for the pedagogue for the tran smission o f
the power to write is very di fferent from the
transmission o f grammatical o r rhetorical facts
Indeed it may be said that we cannot transmit
the power o f u sing E n glish In the last analysis
good English usage i s a matter of se lf cultiva
tion The teacher however can supervise the
process o f self development By insuring a rich
thought life by fostering O pportunities for its
expression by encouraging worthy e ff ort by
providing practice for right speech and by attend
ing to the hundred other details which are a
necessary care the teacher may help the present
generation to achieve th e ability to use with
fo r ce and grace their mother tongu e that has
come to its p r esent power and beauty only after
many generations o f refined development But
there can be no effective sel f c u ltivation in E n g
.
,
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17 111
I N T RO DU CTI ON
lish o r h e l p fu l direction o f the same without some
know l edge o f the technical processes by which
literary power is to be attained There must be
some knowl edge of the way the deed is done
some hint of the factors that make f or good
expression
,
,
'
.
,
.
A g u i de f o r
s t u de n
ts
a n
d te a c /z e r
With the above need in mind there is here
presented an essay on S elf Cultivation in Eng
lish At once a clear analysis of the fu n da m e n
tal e l ements in the no bl e use o f language and
a fin e examp l e o f the u se o f good English it
is offered t o the pub l ic with a sense o f its do u ble
worth While it is strongly commended to stu
dents i n our higher sch ool s as a gu ide and mode l
for the m in their effort to improve their use o f
Engl ish it is primari l y included within this series
in order that teachers and parents m ay h ave it s
assistance in focusing their attention upon those
matters o f large importance in speaking and writ
ing which must be the care o f al l who would
make o f their o wn expression a worthy model
and guide fo r others
,
-
'
.
,
.
,
.
S E LF-C U LTI'A TI O N I N
E N G LI SH
S E LF -C U LTI'A TI O N I N
E N G LI SH
study has four aims : the mastery o f
o u r lang u age as a science as a history as a j oy
and as a tool I am concern ed with but o n e the
mastery of it as a tool Philology and grammar
present it as a science 'the o n e attempting to
follow its words the other its sentences through
all the intricacies o f their growth and so to mani
fest laws which lie hidden in these airy products
no less than in the moving stars o r the myriad
flowers o f spring F ascinating and important as
all this is I do not recommend it here F or I
want to ca ll attention only to that sort o f Eng
lish study which can be carried o n without any
l a rge apparatus of books F or a reason simila r
though less cogent I do not urge historical
study Probably the current o f English litera
ture is more attractive through its continuity
than th at o f any other nation N ota ble works in
verse and prose h ave appeared in l ong succession
E NG LI S H
,
,
,
,
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.
,
,
,
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,
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,
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,
.
.
,
S E LF -CU LTI VATI ON
and without gaps intervening in a way that
would be hard to parallel i n any other language
known to man A bounteous endowm ent this
for every English speaker and o n e which should
stimulate us to t r ace th e marvelou s and close
linked progress from the times o f the S ax on s to
those o f Tennyson and 'ipling L iterature too
has this advantage over every other species of
art study that everybody can examine the origi
nal masterpieces and not depend o n r e p r o du c
tions as in th e cases of painting sculpture and
architecture 'o r o n intermediate interpretation
as in the case o f music To d ay most o f these
m asterpieces can be bought fo r a trifle and even
a poor man can follow through cent u ries the
th oughts o f h is ancestors But even so ready of
access as it is English can be studied as a his
tory only at the cost o f solid time and continuous
attention much more tim e than the maj ority o f
those I am addressing can affo r d By most o f u s
o u r mighty literature cannot be taken in its con
t in u o u s current the later stretches proving inter
esting through relation with th e earlier It must
b e tak en fragmentarily if at all the attention
,
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2
,
IN E NGL I S H
del aying o n those part s only which o fl e r the
greatest beauty or prom ise the best exhilaration
I n oth er word s English may be possib l e as a j oy
where it is n o t possible as a histo r y In the end
less wealth which o u r poetry story essay and
dram a afford every disposition may find its
appropriate nutriment correction o r solace H e
is unwise however b u sy who does not hav e his
loved authors veritab l e friend s with whom he
takes refuge in the interv a l s o f work and by
whose intimacy h e enlarges refine s sweetens
and em b olden s his o wn limited existence ' e t
th e fact that Engl ish as a j oy m ust largely be
conditioned by individ u al taste prevents m e f rom
offering general ru l es f or it s pursuit s The road
which leads o n e man stra ight t o enj oym ent leads
another to tedium In Ea ll l iterary enj oyment
there is som ething incalc u lable someth ing way
ward eluding the precision o f rule and rendering
inexact th e precepts o f him who would point o u t
the path to it Wh ile I bel ieve that many sug
gestions may be made usefu l to the young e n
o
r
e
and promotive o f his wise vagrancy I
j y
sha ll n o t undertake here the com pl icated tas k o f
.
,
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,
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S EL F -CU LT I VATI ON
o ffering them L et enj oym ent go let h istory go
let science go and still English remains Eng
lish as a tool Every hour o u r language is an
engine f or communicating with others every
instant for fashioning the thoughts o f our o wn
minds I want to call attention to the means o f
mastering this curious and ess ential tool and to
lead every on e who hears me to become discon
tented with his employment o f it
The importance o f literary power needs n o
l ong argument Everybody ackno w ledges it and
sees that without it all other human faculties
are maimed S hakespeare says that Time in
It and al l
s u lt s o e r dull and speechless tribes
who live in it insult over th e speechless person
S o mutu a lly dependent are we that on o u r swi ft
and full communication with one another is
staked th e success o f almost every scheme we
f orm H e who can explain himself may com
mand what he wants H e who cannot is left to
th e poverty of individual resource 'for men do
what we desire only when persuaded The per
suasive and explanatory tongue is therefore o n e
of the chief l evers o f l ife Its leverage is f elt
,
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'
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’
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4
,
S E LF -CU LT I V ATI ON
uage
w
i
th
power
and
beauty
The
supreme
and
g
ultimate product O f civilization it h as been well
said is two o r three persons talking together in
a room Between ourselves and o u r language
there accordingly springs up an association p e
We are as sensitive to criticism
c u li a r ly close
Th e young man
o f o u r speech as o f o u r manners
looks up with awe to him who has written a book
as already hal f divine and the graceful speaker
is a universal obj ect o f envy
But the very fact that literary endowment is
immediately recognized an d eagerly envied has
induced a st range illusion in r egard to it It is
supposed to be something mysterious innate in
him who possesses it and quite o u t o f the reach
The very contrary is the
o f him who h as it not
fact N o human employment is more free and cal
c u la b le than the winning o f language U ndoubtedly
there are natural aptitudes for it as there are for
farming seamanship or being a good hus b and
But nowhere is straight work mo r e effective Pe r
sistence care discriminating observation inge
n u it y refusal to lose heart —t r aits w hich in eve r y
oth er occupation tend toward excellence —tend
.
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6
IN E NGL I S H
toward it here with S pecial security Whoever goes
to his grave with bad Engl ish in his mouth has no
o n e to b l ame but himsel f for the disagreeable
taste fo r if faulty speech can be inherited it can
be exterm inated t o o I h 0pe to point o u t some o f
the methods o f substituting good English fo r bad
And since my space is brief and I wish to b e
r e m e m b e r e d I throw what I have to say into th e
f orm of four simple precepts which if p e r t in a
c i o u s ly obeyed will I be l ieve give any b ody e ffe c
tive mastery of English as a tool
F irst th en Look well to your speech It is
common ly supposed that when a man seeks lit
c rary power he goes to h is room and plans an
article for th e press But this is to begin l iterary
culture at the wrong end We speak a hundred
times for every once we write The busiest writer
produces little m ore than a volume a year
not so much as h is talk woul d amount to in a
week Consequently through speech it is u sually
decided wh ether a man is to have command o f
his language o r not If h e is sloven l y in his
ninety nin e cases o f talking he can seldom pul l
himself up to strength and exactitude in the
.
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‘
S E LF -CU LT I VAT I ON
hundredth case o f writing A person is made in
and th e same being runs th r ough a
o n e piece
multitude O f pe rf orman ces Whether wo r ds a r e
uttered o n paper o r to the air the eff ect on the
utterer is the same 'igor or f ee b leness results
according as energy o r slackness has been in
command I know that certain adaptations to a
new fi eld are often necessa ry A good speaker
may find awkwardness in himsel f when h e comes
to write a good writer when he speaks And
certainly cases occur where a man exhibits
distinct st r ength in o n e o f the two speaking o r
writing and not in the other But such cases are
rare As a rule language once within our c o n
trol can be employed for o ral o r for written pur
poses And since the opportunities f or oral p r a c
tice enormously outbalance those for w r itten
it is th e oral which are chiefly significant in the
development o f literary po w er We rightly say
o f the accomplished writer that he shows a mas
t e r y of his o wn tongue
This p r edominant influence o f speech ma rks
n ea r ly all great epochs o f liter a tu r e
Th e Ho
meric poems are ad d ressed to the ear not to th e
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8
IN E NG L I S H
eye It is doubt f ul if H omer knew writing ce r
tain that he knew p r o foundly every quality of
the tongue — veracity vividness shortness o f
sentence simplicity o f thought obligation to
insure swift apprehension Writing and rigidity
are apt to go together I n these smooth slipping
ve r ses o n e catches eve rywhere the voice S o
t o o the aphorisms o f Hesiod might naturally
pass from mouth to mouth and th e sto r ies o f
Herodotus be told by an old man at the fireside
Ea rly G reek literature is plastic and garrulous
Its distinctive glory is that it contains no literary
note ' that it gives forth human feeling n o t
in conventional arrangement but with apparent
spontaneity — i n short that it is speech litera
ture not boo k literature And th e same ten
deney continued long among the G reeks At the
culmination o f their power the drama was thei r
chief literary fo r m — the drama which is but
speech ennobled connected cla r ifi ed Plato t o o
following the dramatic precedent and the pre
cedent of his talking master accepted conversa
tion as his medium for philosophy and imparted
to it th e vivacity eas e waywardness even which
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9
S EL F -CU LT I V AT I O N
the bes t conversation exhibits N o r was the ex
O
ur
lit
erature
e
r i e n c e o f the G reeks peculia r
p
shows a similar tendency Its bookish t imes are
its decadent times its talking times its glo ry
C haucer like H erodotus is a story teller and
f ollows the lead o f those who on the C ontinent
entertained courtly circles with pleasant tales
S hak espea r e and his fellows in the spacious t imes
o f great Elizabeth did not con cern themselves
with publication Ma r ston in o n e of his prefaces
thinks it necessa ry to apologize for putting his
piece in print and says he would not have done
such a thing if unscrupulous persons hearing the
play at the theatre had not already printed co r
rupt versions of it Even the 'ueen An ne s
m en far r emoved though they a r e from any
thing dramatic still shape thei r ideals Of lite r a
tu r e by de m ands o f speech The essays o f the
S pectator th e poems o f Pope a r e the rema rks
o f a cultivated gentleman at an eveni n g party
H ere is the brevity the good taste the light
touch the neat epigram the avoidance o f what
ever might st ir passion controve r sy o r laborious
thought which cha r acterize the conversation o f
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IO
I N E NGL I S H
a we l l b red m an Indeed it is hard to see how
any literature can be long vital which is based
the thought o f a book and not o n that of
on
l iving utterance U nless the speech notion is
uppermost wo r ds will not run swi f tly to their
m a rk They delay in delicate ph rasings wh ile
naturalness and a sense o f reality disappear
Women are the best talkers I sometimes please
myself with not icing that three of the greatest
periods of English l iteratu r e coincide with th e
reigns o f the three English queens
F ortunate it is then that self cultivation in
the use o f English must chiefly come through
speech 'b ecause we are always speaking what
ever else we do In O pportunities for acquiring
a mastery of language the poorest and busiest
are at no large disadvantage as com pared with
th e leisured rich It is true th e strong impulse
w hich comes from the suggestion and approva l
of society may in some cases be absent b u t this
can be compensated b y the sturdy purp ose o f th e
l earner A recognition o f th e beauty o f well
ordered words a strong desire patience u nder
d isco u ragements and p romptness in co u nting
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I I
S EL F -CU LTI VATI ON
every occasion as o f consequence — these are
the simple agencies which sweep one o n to
po w e r Watch your speech then That i s all
which is needed O nly it is desirable to know
what qualities o f speech to w atch fo r I find
three
accuracy audacity and range
and I
will say a few wo r ds about each
O bviously good English is exact English
O u r wo r ds should fit our thoughts like a glove
and be neither too wide n o r too tight If t o o
wide they will include mu ch vacuity beside th e
i n tended matter If too tight th ey will check the
strong grasp O f the t w o d a ngers lo o s e n e s s is by
far the greater Th ere are people who say what
th ey mean with such a naked p r ecision that
nobod y not familiar with the subj ect can quickly
catch the sen se G eorge H erbert and Emerson
strain the attention of many But niggardly and
angular speakers are ra r e To o f r equently words
signify nothing in particular They a r e merely
th r own o u t in a certain direct ion to report a
vagu e and undetermined meaning o r even a gen
e r al emotion The first business o f every o n e
who would train himself in language is to artic
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12
S E LF -CU LTI VATI ON
l ook aside without l oss H e commanded wh en
he spoke and had his j udges an gry or pleased at
his discretion S uch a r e the men who command
men who speak neatly and pressly But t o
gain such precision is toilsome business While
w e are in training fo r it no word must u n p e r
m i t t e dl
pass
t
h
portal
o f th e teeth
S
omething
e
y
like what we mean must never be counted equiv
a le n t to what we mean
And if we are not sure
o f our meaning o r of o u r word we must pa u se
until we are sure Acc u racy does not come of
itsel f F or persons who can u se several lan
guages capital practice in acquiring it can be
had by t ranslating from one language to another
and seeing that the entire sense is carried over
Those who have only their native speech will
find it profitable often to attempt defin ition s o f
the common words they use Inaccuracy will
not stand u p against the habit o f definitio n
Dante boasted that no rhythmic exigency had
ever made him say what h e d id not m ean We
heedless and u n in t e n din g speakers under no
exigency o f rhyme o r reason say what we mean
b ut s eldom and still m ore seldom mean what we
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4
IN E NGL I S H
say To hold o u r thoughts and words in s ig n i fi
cant adj ustment requires unceasing conscious
ness a perp etual determination not to tell lies '
for o f course every inaccuracy is a bit o f u m
truthfulness We have something in m ind yet
convey somethin g else t o o u r hearer And no
moral purpose will save us from this untruthful
nes s unless that purpose is su fficient to inspire
the daily drill which brings the p ower to be true
Again and again we are shut up to evil because
we have not acquired the abil ity of goodness
But after all I h Op e that no b ody wh o hears
me wil l q uite agree There is something e n e rva t
ing in conscious care N ecessary as it is in
shaping o u r purposes if allowed too direct and
exclusive control cons ciousness breeds hesitation
and feebleness Action is not excellent at least
until spontaneous I n pia no playing we begin by
picking out each separate note 'but we do not
call the result music until we play o u r notes by
the handful heedless h o w each is formed And so
it is everywhere Consciously sel ective conduct
is e l ementary and inferior People distrust it or
rather they distrust him who exhibits it If any
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S E LF -CU LTI VAT I ON
body talking to us visibly studies his wo rds we
tu r n away What he says may be well enough
as school exercise but it is not conve r sation
Accordingly if we would have our speech forci
ble we shall need to put into it quite as much
o f audacity as we do o f precision
terseness o r
simplicity Accuracy alone is not a thing to
be sought but accu r acy and dash I t was said
o f F ox the English orator and statesman that
h e was accustomed to throw himself h eadlong
into the middle o f a sentence trusting to G od
Almigh ty to get him out S o must we speak
We must not be f ore beginning a senten ce de
cide what the end shall be 'for if we do nobody
will care to h ear that end At the beginning it
is the beginning which claims the attention o f
both speaker and listener and trepidation about
going on will mar all We must give o u r thought
its head and not d r ive it with too tight a rein
o r grow timid when it begins to prance a bit
O f course we must retain coolnes s in co urage
applying the results of o u r previous discipline in
accuracy 'but we need not move so slowly as to
become formal Pedantry is worse than blunder
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16
IN E NGL I S H
ing If we care for grace and flexi bl e beauty o f
l anguage we must l earn to let our thought run
Would it then be too much of an Irish bull to
say that in acquiring English we need to culti
vate spontaneity 'The uncultivated kind is not
worth m uch it is wild and haphazard st uff u n
adj usted to its uses O n the other hand no
speech is o f much account however j ust which
lacks the element o f courage Accuracy and
dash then the combination o f the two must be
ou r di fficult aim 'and we must not rest satisfied
s o long as either dwells with u s alone
But are the t wo s o hostile as they at fi rst
appear 'O r can indeed th e first b e obtained
without the aid o f the second 'S upposing we are
convinced that words possess n o value in them
selves and are correct o r incorrect on l y as they
truly report experience we shall fee l ourselves
impelled in th e mere interest o f accuracy to
choose them freshly and to put them together
in ways in which they never c o bp e r a t e d before
so as to set fo r th with distinctness that which
j ust we not other people have seen or felt The
reason why we d o not naturally hav e this daring
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7
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S EL F -CU LTI VAT I ON
exactitude is pro b ably twofold We let o u r ex
be
blurred
not
observing
sharply
or
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e
n
c
e
s
e
r
p
kno w ing with any minuteness what we are think
ing about 'and so there is no individuality in
And then besides we are terror
o u r language
i z e d by custom and inclined to adj ust what we
would say to what oth ers have said be fore Th e
cure for the fi r st o f these t r oubles is to keep
o ur eye o n our obj ect instead of on our listener
o r ourselves 'and for th e second to learn to rate
t h e expressiveness o f language more highly than
its correctness The O pposite o f th is the dispo
t o set correctness above exp r essiveness
s it i o n
produces that peculiarly vulgar diction known
as school ma am English in which for the
sake o f a dull accord with usage all the p ic t u r
esque imaginative and forceful employment of
words is sacrificed O f course we must use words
so that people can understand them and u nder
stand them too with ease 'but this once granted
let o u r language be o u r o wn obedient to o u r
special needs Whenever says Thomas 'e f
fe r s o n
by small g rammatical n egligences the
energy o f an idea can be condensed o r a word
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I N E NGL I S H
be made to stand f or a sentence I hold gram
'oung man said
m a t i c a l rigor in contempt
H en ry Ward Beech er to o n e who was point
ing out grammatical errors in a sermon o f h is
when the English language gets in my way
it does n t stand a chance N o m an can be
convincing writer o r speaker who is afr aid t o
send his words wherever they may best follow
his m eaning and this with but littl e regard to
whether any other person s words have ever been
th ere before In assessin g merit l et us not stupefy
ourselves with using negative standards What
stamps a man as great is not f r eedom from faults
but abundance o f powers
S uch audacious accuracy h owever distinguish
ing as it does noble s peech f rom commonplace
speech can be practised only by him wh o has
a wide range of words O ur ordinary range is
absurdly narrow It is import a nt therefore for
any b ody who would cultivate hi m self in English
to make strenuou s and systematic e fforts to e n
large his vocabulary O ur dictionaries contain
mo r e th an a hundred thousand words The aver
age speaker employs about three tho u sand Is
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9
S E LF -CU LTI VATI ON
this because ordinary peop l e have on l y three or
f ou r thousand things to say ' N ot at all It is
simply due to dullness L isten to the average
s chool boy H e has a dozen o r two nouns h alf
a dozen ve r bs three or four adj ectives and
enough conj unctions and prepositions t o stick the
conglomerate together This ordinary speech
d eserves the description which Hobbes gave to
his S tate o f N ature that it is solitary poor
nasty brutish and sho r t The fact is we fall
into th e way o f thinking that th e wealthy words
a r e fo r oth e r s and that they do not belong to us
We are like th ose who have received a vast in
he r itance but wh o persist in th e inconveniences
o f hard beds
scanty food rude clothing who
never travel and who limit thei r purchases to
the ble a k necessities o f l ife Ask such people
why th ey endure niggardly living whil e wealth in
plenty is lying in the bank and they can only
ans w er that they have never learned how to
spend But this is worth learning Milton used
eight thousand words S hakespea r e fifteen thou
sand We have all th e subj ects to talk about
that these ea rly speak e rs had and in addition
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20
S E LF -CU LT I VATI ON
En l arge the voca b ulary L et any o n e wh o wants
to see himself grow resolve to adopt two n e w
words each week It will not be long before the
endless and enchanting variety of the world will
begin to reflect itse lf in his speech and in his
mind as well I know that when we use a word
for th e first time we are st a rt l ed as if a fi r e
cracker went o ff in our neighborhood We look
about hastily to see if any o n e has noticed But
finding that no o n e has we may be emboldened
A word used three times slips o ff th e ton g ue
with entire naturalness Then it is ours forever
an d with it some phase o f l if e which had been
l acking hitherto F or each word presents its own
point o f vie w discloses a special aspect o f things
reports some little importance not otherwise con
v e e d and so contributes its smal l emancipation
y
to our tied u p minds and tongues
But a brie f warning may be necessary to make
my meaning clear I n urging the addition o f new
words to o u r present poverty stricken stock I
am f ar f r om suggesting that we shou l d seek o u t
strange technical o r inflated expressions which
do not appear in ordinary conversation The very
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22
I N E NGL I S H
opposite is my aim I wo u ld put every man who
is now employing a diction m erely local and per
sonal in command o f the approved resources o f
the English language O ur poverty usually comes
through provinciality through accepting without
criticism the habits o f our special set My family
my immediate fr iends have a diction o f their
Plenty o f oth er words recognized as sound
o wn
are known to be current in books and to be em
ployed by modest and intelligent speakers only
we do not u se them O ur set has never said
diction o r current o r scope o r scanty
or
hitherto or convey or lack F ar from
unusual as these words are t o adopt the m might
seem to set me apart from those whose i n t e lle c
tual habits I share F rom this I shrink I do not
like to wear clothes suitable enough for others
but not in th e styl e o f my o wn plain circle 'e t
if each on e o f that circle does the same the
general shabbiness is inc r eased Th e talk o f all
is mad e narrow enough to fit th e thinnest there
What we should seek is to contribute to each o f
the little companies with which o u r l ife is bound
up a gent ly enlarging infl u ence such impulses
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23
S E LF -CU LT I VAT I ON
as will no t startl e o r create detachment but
which may save from humd r um routin e and
dreary usualness We cannot be really kind
w ithout being a little venturesome The small
shocks o f o u r increasing vocabulary will in all
probability be as helpful to o u r frie n ds as to ou r
selves
S uch then a r e th e excellences o f speech If
we would cultivate ourselves in the us e o f Eng
lish we must make o u r daily talk accurate dar
ing and full I have ins isted o n these points the
more because in my j udgment all litera ry power
especially that of busy men is rooted in sound
speech But though the roots are here the
growth is also else w here And I pass to my
late r precepts w hich i f the earlier o n e has been
laid well to heart will require only brief discus
sion
S econdly
Welcome every opportunity f or
w r iting Important as I have shown speech to
be the r e is much that it cannot do S eldom can
it teach structu r e Its S pace is too small Talk
i n g m oves in sentences and rarely demands a
a dozen
paragraph I make my little remark —
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24
'
IN E N GL I S H
or two words —then wait f or my friend to hand
me back as many more This gentle exchange
continues by the hour 'but either o f u s would
feel himself unmannerly if he should grasp an
entire five minutes and make it uninterru ptedly
his That would not be speaking but rather
spee ch making The brief groupings o f words
which make up o u r talk furnish capital practice
in precision boldness and variety 'but they do
not contain room enough for exercising o u r con
structive faculties C onsiderable len gth is n e c e s
sary if we are to learn how to set forth B in
right relation to A on the one hand an d to C
o n th e other
and wh il e keeping each a distinct
part are t o be able through their smooth pro
r
g e s s io n to weld al l the parts together into a
compacted whole S uch wholeness is what we
mean by l iterary form L acking it any piece o f
writing is a failure 'because in truth it i s not
a piece but pieces F or ease o f reading o r for
th e attainment o f an intended e ffect unity is
essential the multitude of statements a n e c
dotes quotations a r g u in g s gay s p o rt i n g s and
appeals a ll bending o n e way their precious
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S EL F -CU LTI V AT I ON
influence And this dominant unity o f the enti re
piece obliges unity also in the subordinate parts
No t enough has been done when we have hud
dle d together a lot o f wandering sentences and
penned them in a paragraph o r even when w e
have linked them together by the frail ties of
and and A senten ce must be compelled t o
say a single thing a paragraph a single thing '
an essay a single thing Each part is to be a
preliminary whole and the total a finished whole
But the ability to construct o n e thing o u t o f
many does not come by n at u re It implies fe
c u n d i t y restraint an eye for e ffects the forecast
o f finish while we are still working in the rough
obedience to the demands o f development and
a deaf ear to whatever calls u s into the b y paths
of caprice ' in short it implies that the good
writer is to be an art ist
N ow something o f this large requirement
which composition makes the young writer i n
stin c t ive lyfeels an d he is terrified H e knows how
ill fi tt e d he is to di r ect toil c o Op e r a n t to an
end and when he sits down to the desk and sees
th e white sheet o f paper before him he shivers
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IN E NGL I S H
L et h i m k now that the shiver is a s u ita b le part
the performance I well remember the plea
sure with which as a yo u ng man I heard my
venera b le an d practised professor o f rhetoric say
that he supposed there was n o work known to
man more difficult than writing U p to that time
I had supposed its severities pecu l iar to myself
It ch eered m e and gave me co u rage to try again
to learn that I had all mankind for my fellow
su ff erers Where this is not understood writing is
avoided F rom such avoidan ce I would save the
young writer by my precept to seek every o ppo r
t u n ity to write F or most o f us th is is a new way
of confronting composition — treating it as an
O pportunity a chance an d not as a burden o r
compulsion It saves from s l avishness and takes
away the drudgery o f writing to view each piece
o f it as a precious and necessary step in t h e
pathway to power To those engaged in b read
winning employments these opp ortunities will be
few Sp ring f orward to them then using them
to the full S evere they will be because so few
for only practice breeds ease 'but o n that very
account let no o n e o f them pass with merel y a
of
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27
S EL F -CU L T I VATI ON
second best performance I f a letter is to be
written to a friend a repor t to an employer a
communication to a n ewspaper see that it has a
beginning a middle and an end The maj ority o f
writings are without these pleasing adornment s
O nly the great pieces possess them Bear this i n
m ind and win the way to artistic composition by
noticing what should be said first what second
and what th ird
I cannot leave this subj ect however without
congratulating the present generation o n its ad
vantages over min e Children are brought up
to d ay in happy contrast with my compee r s to
f eel that the pencil is no instrument o f torture
ha r dly indeed to distinguish it f r om the tongue
About the time th ey leave their moth er s a r ms
they take th ei r pen in hand O n paper they are
encouraged to describe their interesting birds
friends adventures Th eir written lessons are
almost as f requ ent as their oral and they learn
to write compositions while not yet quite under
standing what they are about S ome o f these
fortunat e ones will I hope find the language I
have sadly used about the di fficulty o f w r iting
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28
S E LF -C UL TI V AT I ON
Remember the
My third precept shall b e
other pe r son I have been u rging self cultivation
in English as if it con cerned o n e person alone
ourself But every utterance really concerns
two Its aim is social Its obj ect is c o m m u n i c a
tion ' and while unquestionably prompted half
way by the desire t o ease o u r mind through
self expression it still finds its only j ustification
in the advantage somebody else will draw from
what is said S peak ing o r writing is therefore
everywhere a double ended process It springs
from me it penetrates him 'and both o f these
ends need watch ing Is what I say precisely
what I mean ' That is an important question
Is what I say s o shaped that it can readily be
assimilated by him who hears Th i s I S a question
o f quite as great consequence and much more
likely to be forgotten We are so full o f o u r
selves that we do not remember the other pe r so n
Helter skelter we pour forth o u r unaimed words
merely fo r our personal relief heedless whether
th ey h elp or hinder him whom they still purport
to address F o r most o f u s are grievously lacking
in imagination which is the ability to go outside
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30
IN E NG LI S H
ourselves and take o n the conditions o f another
m ind 'e t this i s what the literary a r tist is a l
ways doing H e has at once the ability to see fo r
h imself and the ability t o see himself as others
see h im H e can lead two lives as easily as o n e
life or rather h e has train ed himsel f to consider
that other li fe as o f more importance than his
and to reckon his comfort liki ngs and labors as
quite subordinated to the service o f that other
All serious literary work contains within it this
readines s to bear another s burden I must write
with pains that h e may read with ease I must
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Fin
d o u t m e n s wa n t s
A n d m e e t t h e m t it e r e
’
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d
wi lls
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As I write I m u st u nceasingl y study what is the
line o f least intellectual resistan ce along which
my thought may enter th e di fferently constituted
mind and to that line I must subtly adj ust with
o u t enfeebl ing my meaning
Will this combina
tion of words or that make the meaning clear '
Will this order of presentation facilitate swift
ness of apprehension o r will it clog the move
m ent 'What tempera m ental p er versities in me
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3I
S E LF -CU LT I VAT I ON
must be set aside in order to render my reader s
approach to what I would tell h im pleasant '
What temperamental perversities in him must be
accepted by me as fixed facts conditioning all I
say 'These are the questions the skillful write r
is always asking
And these questions as will h ave been per
c e iv e d already a r e moral questions no less than
l iterary That golden rul e o f generous service
by which we do f or others what we would have
them do f or us is a rule of writing too Every
writer who knows his trade perceives that he is
a servant that it is his business to endure hard
ship if only his reader may win f reedom from
toil that n o impediment t o that reader s under
standing is too slight to deserve diligent attention
that h e has consequently no right to let a single
sentence slip f rom him unsocialized —I mean
a sentence which cannot become as naturally
anothe r s possession as his o w n In the ve ry act
of asserting himself he lays aside what is dis
t i n c t iv e ly his And because these qualification s
o f the writer are moral qual ifications they can
never be completely fulfilled so long as we live
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IN E NGL I S H
and write We m ay continual l y app roximate
them more nearly but there will still always be
possible an alluring refinement o f exercise b e
yond The world o f the literary artist and the
moral man is inte r esting through its i n e xh a u s t i
b i lit y : and he who serves his fellows by writing
o r by speech is artist and moral man in o n e
Writing a letter is a simple matter but it i s a
moral matter and an artistic 'fo r it may be don e
either with imagination o r with raw self centred
ness What things will my correspondent wish
to know ' H ow can I transport h im o u t o f his
prope rly alien sur r oundings into the vivid impres
sions which now a r e m ine 'H ow can I tell all I
long to tel l and still be sure th e te l ling will be for
him as lucid and delight f ul as for me ' Remember
the other person I say Do not become absorbed
in yourself 'our interests cover only the h al f of
any piece o f writing 'the other man s less visible
half is necessary to complete yours And if I have
here discussed writing more than speech that is
merely because when we speak we u tter o u r first
thoughts but when we write our second —o r
better still our fourth and in th e greater d e lib
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33
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S E LF -CU LTI VATI ON
which writing affords I have fe l t that t h e
demands of morality and art which are univer
sally imbedded in language could be more dis
t i n c t ly perceived 'e t none the less tr uly do we
need to talk for the other person than to write
f or him
But th ere remains a fourth weighty precept
and one not altogether detachable from the third
It is this
L ean upon your subj ect We have
seen how the user o f lan guage whether in writ
ing o r in speaking works f or himself 'how he
works for another individual too 'but there is
o n e mo r e for whom his work is performed
on e
o f g r eater consequence than any person and that
is his subj ect F rom this comes his primary call
Those who in their utterance fix their thoughts
on
themse l ves o r o n other selves never reach
power That resides in the subj ect There we
must dwel l with it and be content to have n o
other strength than its When the frighten ed
school b o y sits down to write about S pring he
cannot imagine where the th oughts which are t o
make up h is piece are to come f r om He cudgels
his brain f or ideas He examines his pen point the
e ra
t io n
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34
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IN E NGL I S H
curtains his inkstand t o see if p erhap s ideas
may not be had fro m these He wonders what
his teacher will wish him to say and he tries to
recall how th e passage sounded in the Third
Reader In every di r ection but o n e he turn s an d
that is the direction wh ere lies the prim e mover
O f that he is afraid No w
o f his toil his subj ect
what I want to make evident is that this subj ect
is not in rea l ity the foe but the friend It is his
only h elper His composition is not to be as he
seems to suppose a mass o f his labo r ious in
ve n t io n s
but it i s to be made up exclusively o f
what the subj ect dictates H e h as only to attend
At present h e stands in his o wn way making
such a din with his private anxieties that h e can
not hear th e rich suggestions of th e subj ect H e
is bothered with considering how he feels o r what
he or somebody e l se wil l like t o see o n his pa p er
This is debilitating business H e must lean o n
his subj ect i f he would have his writing strong
and busy himself with what it says rather than
with what he would say Matth ew Arno l d in th e
important preface to his poems o f 1 8 5 3 contrast
ing the artistic methods o f G reek poetry and
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35
S E LF -CU LTI V AT I ON
modern poetry sums u p the teaching o f the
G reeks in these word s
All depends upon th e
subj ect c h o o s e a fitting action penetrate your
self with the feeling o f its situations this done
everything else w ill follow And he calls atten
tion to the self assertive and scatter brained habits
o f our time
How different a way o f thinking
from this is ours We can hardly at the present
day understand what Menander meant when h e
told a man who inqui r ed as to the p r ogress of his
comedy that he had finished it not having yet writ
ten a s i n g le line because he had constructed the
action o f it in his mind A modern c r itic would
have assured him that the merit o f his piece
depended o n th e b r illiant things wh ich arose
under his pen as he went along I verily think
that the maj ority of u s do not in our hearts
believe that there is such a thing as a total i m
pression to be derived f rom a poem o r to be
demanded from a poet We pe r mit th e poet to
select any action he pleases and to su ffer that
action to go as it will provi ded h e g r a t ifi e s us
with occasional bursts o f fine writing and with
a shower o f isolated thoughts and images
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36
S E LF -CU LTI V ATI ON
who wou l d write well such stren u ous do
c ili t y O f course there must be energy in plenty '
th e imagination which I described in my third
section th e passion for solid form as in my
second the disciplined and daring powers as in
my first ' but all these must be ready at a
moment s notice to move where the matter calls
and to acknowledge that all their worth i s to be
drawn from it Religion is only enlarged g o od
sense and the words o f 'esus apply as well to
the things of earth as of heaven I do not know
whe r e we could find a more compendious state
ment of wha t is most importan t for on e to learn
who would cultivate himself in English than the
simple saying in which '
esus announces the
source o f his power The word which ye hear
i s n o t mine b ut the F ather s wh ich sent me
Whoever can use such words wi l l be a noble
speaker indeed
These th en are the fundamenta l precepts
which every one must heed who would command
o u r beautiful English language
There is of
course a fi f th I hardly need t o n ame it 'for it
always fo llows after whatever others precede
on e
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38
IN E NG L I S H
It is that we sho u ld do the work and not thin k
about it do it day a fter day and not gro w weary
in bad doin g Early and often we m ust b e b usy
and be satisfied to h ave a great deal o f labor
produce b ut a smal l result I am told that early
i n l ife '
ohn Morl ey wishing to engage in j o u r
n a li s m
wrote an editorial and sent it to a paper
every day f or nearly a year before he succeeded
in gettin g on e accepted We all know what a
power h e b eca m e in L ondon j ournalism I wil l
n o t vouch f or the truth o f th is story but I am
sure an ambitious auth or is wise who writes
Publication is of
a we e kly essay for his stove
little consequence so lon g as one is getting one s
self ham mered into shape
But be f ore I close this address let me acknow
l ed ge that in it I have neglected a whole class o f
helpful influences probably quite as important
as any I have discuss e d Purposely I have passed
them by Bec ause I wished to show what we can
do for ourse l ves I have everywhere assum ed
that o u r c u lti vation in Engl ish is to b e effected
by nak ed v o l ition and a kind of dead lift These
are mighty agencies b ut sel dom in this i n ter
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39
S EL F -CU LTI VATI ON
locked world do they work well alone They are
strongest when backed by social suggestion and
unconscious custom O rdinarily the good speaker
is he who keeps good company but increases
th e helpf ul influence o f that company by con
stant watchfulnes s along the l ines I have mark ed
o ut
S o supp l emented my teaching is true By
itself it is n o t true It needs the supplementation
of others Let hi m who would speak or write
well seek o u t good speakers and writers L et
him live in their society
for the s ociety o f the
greatest writers is open to the most secluded
let him feel the ease o f th eir excel l ence the i n
g e n u it y grace and scope of their diction and he
will soon find in himself capacities whose devel
o pm e n t may be aided b y the precepts I have
given Most o f us catch better than we learn
We take up unconscio u sly from o u r surroundings
what we cannot altogether create All this should
be remembered and we shou l d keep o u rselves
exposed to the whol esome words of our fellow
men 'e t o u r o wn exertions wil l not on that
account be rendered less important We may
l arge l y choose th e influences to which we sub
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40
IN E NG LI S H
mit we may e x ercise a sel ective attention am ong
these influences we may enj oy oppose m odify
o r diligently ingraft what is conveyed to u s
and for doing any o n e o f these th ings rationally
we mu st be gu ided by some c l ear aim S u ch aims
a ltogether essential even if su b sidiary I have
sought to supply and I wo u l d reiterate that h e
who holds them fast may becom e s up erior to
lin gu istic fortune and be the wise director o f his
sluggish and obstinate tongue It is as c e rta in a s
anything can b e that f aithfu l endeavor wil l bring
expertness in the u se o f Engl ish If we are watch
ful o f o u r speech m a k ing our words continually
more m inutely tru e f ree and reso u rcefu l if we
l oo k u pon o u r occasions o f writing as o p portuni
ties for the del i b erate work o f unified con strue
tion 'if in all our u tterances we think of hi m who
hears as well as of him wh o speaks and abo ve all
if we fix the attent ion o f oursel ves and o u r hearers
o n the m atter we talk about and so l et ourselves
b e supported b y o u r su bj ect —we shal l make a
dai l y advance not only in Engl ish study but in
p erson a l p ower in genera l servi ceabl eness and in
c onseq u ent de l ight
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41
O U TLI N E
MA STE R' O F E N G LI SH A S A TOO L
E n gli s h s t u dy h a s f o ur a i m s
Th e s p e c i a l i m p o r t a n c e o f li t e ra ry p o we r
A s tra n g e i llu s i o n i n re g a r d t o i t
THE
1
.
2
.
3
.
L OO '
W E LL
TO ' O U
R
S PE E C H
rt u n i ty o f o ra l p ra c t i c e
S p e e c h a n d gr e a t e p o c h s o f li t e ra t ure
5
6
S e lf c u lt i va t i o n c h i e fl y t h ro u g h s p e e c h
G o o d E n gli s h i s e x a c t E n gli s h
7
F o r c i b le s p e e c h p o s s e s s e s d a s h
8
Da ri n g a d e xa c t i t u d e n o t i n c o n s i s te n t
9
to
Th e n e e d o f a wid e ra n g e o f wo rd s
1r
A do p t t wo n e w wo rd s e a c h we e k
12
Le t th e m b e fro m a p p ro e d u s a g e
W E L C O ME E ' E R' O PPO R TU N IT' F O R
W RI TI N G
I3
24
W ri t i g c o p e ls u i ty o f th o u gh t
14
I t s h o u ld b e t re a t e d a s a n o pp o rt u n i t y
26
I5
Th e e w d e m a d fo r s tra ig h tf o rwa rd E n gli s h
28
RE MEMBE R THE O THE R PE R S O N
16
E ve ry u tt e ra n c e c o n c e rn s t wo p e rs o n s
17
G o o d wri t i n g i s a g e n e ro u s s e rvi c e
L E A N U PO N ' O U R S U B'E C T
18
S tre n u o u s ly o b e y t h e s gg e s t i o s o f y o u r s u b j e c t 3 4
W O R ' DA ' A F TE R DA ' U NWE A R 'I N G L'
19
W h a t e ve r p re c e d e s mu c h pra c ti c e mu s t fo llo w 3 8
S EE ' THE C O MPA N' O F G O O D S PE A 'E R S
A ND W R I TE R S
20
Le t s u gg e s t i o n a n d c u s to m a s s i s t
Th e
4
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o p po
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n
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v
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n
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m
n
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n
n
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u
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fi be
C
p re ys
A MB RI DG E
U
MA S S A C HU S E
S
A
TT
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